Chelsea are used to being amongst the highest spenders in the Premier League, but that reputation has taken a bit of a hit -- Manchester United have now overtaken us in the wages table, sliding the Blues from second to third. Sky Sports claims that our wage bill for 2012/13 was £176 million, £6 million below Manchester United's and a staggering £57 million under Manchester City's expenditure.
This is obviously good news assuming that we're operating in an Financial Fair Play world, but as our opponents on Wednesday showed us, that assumption doesn't have to be true. Spending money wisely only matters if money is a finite resource -- if it's not, all's fair. Well, unless you're playing against us.
Hopefully FFP sticks and Chelsea's recent prudence (I can see you snickering, Arsenal fans; to which I say 6-0) is rewarded. If it doesn't, we have some catching up to do.